The Subtle
Awareness
One of Gurudev’s most famous songs includes the line, "Practise ahimsa,
satyam and brahmacharya (non-injury, truthfulness, purity). This
is the foundation of Yoga and Vedanta." Indeed, he has made the condition
of our membership in The Divine Life Society the practice of ahimsa, satyam
and brahmacharya. Why has Gurudev placed so much emphasis on these three
virtues? And in what way are they the foundation of Yoga and Vedanta?
The most obvious answer is that if we practise non-injury,
truthfulness and purity in thought, word and deed, it will make us into better
people, more suitable for the study and practice of Yoga and Vedanta. And that
is certainly a good answer. But it has one drawback. So often when we do,
through great effort, become better people, it brings with it a subtle ego:
"I am now a better person. I am a better person than so and so. They too
should be undergoing the practices that I am." But, of course, the whole
purpose of the spiritual life is to get rid of the ego, and so if the practice
of ahimsa, satyam and brahmacharya is building our ego,
then, in fact, we’re taking one step forward and one step backward. Therefore,
perhaps the foundation that Gurudev is referring to, and the purpose of our
practice, is more subtle than it would appear to be on the surface.
What could that foundation be? What could that subtlety be? Most of
the time as human beings we function in an instinctive or unconscious way. But
the essence of God- realization, of spirituality, is to be awake, to be aware.
And what is it that the practice of ahimsa, satyam and brahmacharya
require? They require that we be awake, aware. You have to be aware to practise
non-injury. You have to be aware to practise truthfulness. You have to be aware
to be pure, to have self-restraint.
It is actually this awareness that is the foundation of Yoga and
Vedanta. This awareness takes us above animal consciousness, ego consciousness.
It makes us aware of the movement of our mind, the movement of our ego. It
actually helps us to transcend the three gunas and the pairs of opposite
which are movements in our mind. How do we transcend them? By becoming aware of
them and then choosing which guna we should follow, which of the pairs
of opposites we shall follow.
It is this awareness that allows us to understand the scriptures. If
we try to understand the scriptures from the point of view of the ego, we will
either just perpetuate our ignorance or run around in circles, always confused.
But if we study the scriptures and practise Yoga and Vedanta from this point of
subtle awareness, we will understand their true import.
This awareness is not different than the understanding heart that
Gurudev asks us to pray for daily. It is not different than abhyasa. It
also gives us vairagya, dispassion, for the movements of the mind. When
we’re lost in the mind, we don’t understand or realize what a disaster it is.
But by practicing ahimsa, satyam and brahmacharya, we
become aware of the mind, we develop dispassion for its irrationality. Thus it
is this awareness, this impersonal awareness, that is the true foundation of
our spiritual life, of Yoga and Vedanta, and it is the gateway to realization.
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